THE STORY of four-year-old Aneesa Rahman raises questions about the rigidity of Bradford Council’s policy on issuing disabled parking permits.

Unable to walk far, needing to be given oxygen at all times and having to be fed through a tube directly into her stomach, few would begrudge this battling little girl a blue badge if it made her difficult life any easier.

With the family’s obvious willingness to have their plight publicised, it would have been nice to see a full explanation from the Council as to why Aneesa’s case for a disabled parking permit was no longer deemed strong enough, especially as she previously had one before it expired.

It may be a text book response to a tricky press inquiry but, on this occasion, the Council’s statement about ‘individual circumstances’ and ‘specific cases’ doesn’t quite seem to hit the mark.

It’s important for the Council to explain its reasoning in emotive cases such as this because, on the face of it, this particular refusal seems to be suggestive of a system that’s too restrictive, inflexible and strict.

Unfortunately, it comes across as more of a box-ticking exercise on the Council’s part, rather than looking at the individual and assessing the ins and outs of their case.

Indeed, there’s a certain element of the jobsworth attitude in this decision, which seems to be heaping extra pressure on a family that’s in need of support.

In future, perhaps it would be better if applications were assessed on a more human person-by-person basis, rather than case-by-case, by the book or a one-size-fits-all ticklist.